4 ms·
Ask HN: Would you pay to play?
I am trying to figure out a pricing model for my application and I am left stuck wondering if I am doomed for failure because I force people to pay (at least $1) to play. The incentive is that you could win $100, so to me it kind of makes sense, but I know there are some people who still will find a reason to stop from throwing a buck up.
I was thinking I could potentially do a free system that allowed you to play and if you won, you would get N credits to use towards a paid puzzle (with a cash prize). It sounds like that may be better, but complicates my design.
So the quick question is this - Would you pay $1 for the chance to win $100 or would you put the work in to get free credits to potentially win $100?
- trotsky 16y agoFrom your description it sounds like you'd be considered an online gambling operator by the SAFE Port Act in the US.
- mechanical_fish 16y agoYeah, the good news is that it's been proven time and again that humans will bet $1 if they've got good odds of winning $100. The bad news is that you're running a casino, so be sure you talk to a lawyer.
- x0ner 16y agoSomeone had mentioned this when I pitched the idea. Couldn't the fees to play be considered a service? You are not betting, but instead solving a problem.
- trotsky 16y agoI'm not an expert but I think they already have that loophole covered, hence why promotions with prizes are always "no purchase necessary".
- mryan 16y agoYou really need to seek some professional legal advice on this - you are thinking of setting up a gambling website, and will need to be registered with and regulated by the relevant authority. If you are pitching this as a "service", I believe you will need to offer free play. An example from the UK: Let's say a particular chocolate bar brand is running a competition where you can win a prize by finding a special code inside the chocolate wrapper. They are legally required to offer free entry for this to be classified as a competition (so you can write to them and ask for a free entry form - they have to comply). If you can only enter the "competition" by paying, it is considered gambling and regulated accordingly.
- PilotPirx 16y agoI'm not a gambling person. In such cases there is one thing I know for sure: You won't throw away your personal money, so for every $ I win you will need to earn one $ (at least). Another problem: How do I know, that your program is anything like playing fair? You could set up chances in program from anything like 1/100, 1/100,000 or no win at all. How do you want to built up a really great reputation for your customers to trust you on this? The puzzle would even complicate matters. It would need to generate a new problem for every customer, otherwise you'll soon find the solution on the web and everybody will win. Or people will write bots to cheat about it.
- x0ner 16y agoYou have pointed out a few things I have been working with already. The first one I have covered, but that goes a lot more into the design. To your second point, I am not sure. I obviously am not in the business to cheat people of their money, but I knew that could be a barrier initially. Any suggestions on building that trust? I believe I could be transparent with how the game is built without opening methods to cheat, but I would need to be sure and even then I think some would be skeptical. The game itself is a shared real-time experience, so this would not be an issue.